[ EDITORIAL ]

Legislation For 2013: Texting, Driving Don't Mix

Published: Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 12:16 a.m.

Last Modified: Thursday, December 6, 2012 at 12:16 a.m.

Now that roadblocks have been removed, perhaps the Florida Legislature will finally pass a law to prohibit motorists from texting while driving.

In recent years, leaders of the House of Representatives — including former Speaker Dean Cannon and Ellyn Bogdanoff, a powerful committee chairwoman — stifled voting on anti-texting legislation.

The bill died, ironically, in the House Transportation and Highway Safety Subcommittee. (Companion legislation was approved 14-1 in the Senate Budget Committee, but the bill stalled.)

Cannon and Bogdanoff have left the House, clearing the way for progress. Rep. Doug Holder, R-Sarasota, on good terms with incoming Speaker Will Weatherford, intends to soon introduce a texting-while-driving ban.

In the Senate, Nancy Detert, R-Venice, has already reintroduced the "Florida Ban on Texting While Driving Law" she introduced last year. Detert had some success moving the bill forward during the 2012 legislative session.

When the Legislature convenes in March for its annual session, she will have additional clout because of key appointments by Senate President Don Gaetz.

UNSAFE TYPING

Plus, Detert and Holder will have common sense, public opinion and a growing body of evidence on their side.

Consider the text of the proposed law:

"A person may not operate a motor vehicle while manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers, symbols or other characters into a wireless communications device or while sending or reading data in such a device for the purpose of nonvoice interpersonal communication, including, but not limited to, communication methods known as texting, emailing and instant messaging."

Safety on Florida's roads and highways is not promoted by driving while typing. Texting distracts drivers, takes their eyes off the road and leads to weaving in and out of lanes and abrupt — or belated — stops.

How much of a distraction? Sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent of driving the length of an entire football field — blind — at 55 mph, according to Virginia Tech's Transportation Institute.

Last year year, 71 percent of likely voters surveyed by telephone supported a state law banning texting while driving. The pollsters, Mason-Dixon, interviewed 800 Floridians likely to vote in the general election. The margin of error: 3.5 percentage points.

Evidence from the roads is beginning to pile up.

Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to sustain injury, according to a study cited by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

The Virginia Tech study found that text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted.

DEATH BY DISTRACTION

In 2010, the most recent year for which the NHTSA has statistics, 3,092 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver, and an estimated additional 416,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver. Among the frequent distractions: cellphone and smartphone use by drivers.

The NHTSA believes that the numbers of distracted-driving deaths and accidents are higher than reported; conclusive evidence has been difficult to collect, but anecdotal observations on the state's and nation's roads suggest that the administration's hunch is correct.

The effects of Detert-Holder legislation will be moderate, considering the problem. Citations would be issued only if drivers are stopped for committing another violation; furthermore, there are reasonable exceptions for emergencies and such. (The bills would — yes, would — apply to legislators driving to and from the state capital.)

Florida is one of the few states without a ban on texting while driving.

<p>Now that roadblocks have been removed, perhaps the Florida Legislature will finally pass a law to prohibit motorists from texting while driving.</p><p>In recent years, leaders of the House of Representatives — including former Speaker Dean Cannon and Ellyn Bogdanoff, a powerful committee chairwoman — stifled voting on anti-texting legislation.</p><p>The bill died, ironically, in the House Transportation and Highway Safety Subcommittee. (Companion legislation was approved 14-1 in the Senate Budget Committee, but the bill stalled.)</p><p>Cannon and Bogdanoff have left the House, clearing the way for progress. Rep. Doug Holder, R-Sarasota, on good terms with incoming Speaker Will Weatherford, intends to soon introduce a texting-while-driving ban.</p><p>In the Senate, Nancy Detert, R-Venice, has already reintroduced the "Florida Ban on Texting While Driving Law" she introduced last year. Detert had some success moving the bill forward during the 2012 legislative session.</p><p>When the Legislature convenes in March for its annual session, she will have additional clout because of key appointments by Senate President Don Gaetz.</p><p> </p><p><b>UNSAFE TYPING</B></p><p>Plus, Detert and Holder will have common sense, public opinion and a growing body of evidence on their side.</p><p>Consider the text of the proposed law:</p><p>"A person may not operate a motor vehicle while manually typing or entering multiple letters, numbers, symbols or other characters into a wireless communications device or while sending or reading data in such a device for the purpose of nonvoice interpersonal communication, including, but not limited to, communication methods known as texting, emailing and instant messaging."</p><p>Safety on Florida's roads and highways is not promoted by driving while typing. Texting distracts drivers, takes their eyes off the road and leads to weaving in and out of lanes and abrupt — or belated — stops.</p><p>How much of a distraction? Sending or receiving a text takes a driver's eyes from the road for an average of 4.6 seconds, the equivalent of driving the length of an entire football field — blind — at 55 mph, according to Virginia Tech's Transportation Institute.</p><p>Last year year, 71 percent of likely voters surveyed by telephone supported a state law banning texting while driving. The pollsters, Mason-Dixon, interviewed 800 Floridians likely to vote in the general election. The margin of error: 3.5 percentage points.</p><p>Evidence from the roads is beginning to pile up.</p><p>Drivers who use hand-held devices are four times more likely to get into crashes serious enough to sustain injury, according to a study cited by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.</p><p>The Virginia Tech study found that text messaging creates a crash risk 23 times worse than driving while not distracted.</p><p> </p><p><B>DEATH BY DISTRACTION</B></p><p>In 2010, the most recent year for which the NHTSA has statistics, 3,092 people were killed in crashes involving a distracted driver, and an estimated additional 416,000 were injured in motor vehicle crashes involving a distracted driver. Among the frequent distractions: cellphone and smartphone use by drivers.</p><p>The NHTSA believes that the numbers of distracted-driving deaths and accidents are higher than reported; conclusive evidence has been difficult to collect, but anecdotal observations on the state's and nation's roads suggest that the administration's hunch is correct.</p><p>The effects of Detert-Holder legislation will be moderate, considering the problem. Citations would be issued only if drivers are stopped for committing another violation; furthermore, there are reasonable exceptions for emergencies and such. (The bills would — yes, would — apply to legislators driving to and from the state capital.)</p><p>Florida is one of the few states without a ban on texting while driving.</p><p>In 2013, the state should join the majority in America.</p>